UCLA football: The new sheriff in town and the Bruins' cultural divide

UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince wasn't surprised that new Bruin coach Jim Mora was enraged when the team skipped Tuesday's practice to go a showing of "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" under the guise of extending a UCLA tradition known as going "over the wall."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU0SEeQJy0c

"I figured he would be," Prince said. "That's good."

Prince is among a group of players who welcome Mora, seeing the new boss an agent of change that they had tried, unsuccessfully, to implement under Rick Neuheisel.

The player reaction Tuesday's "over the wall" stunt (consider it the last jail break before that new sheriff takes over) and to Mora's comments about the incident illustrate a cultural divide within the program. It also reveals once again the diminished standards of many within the program.

The "over the wall" tradition began in the 1980s when Terry Donahue was guiding the Bruins to four Pac-10 titles in six seasons. In defending this week's decision, senior wide receiver Taylor Embree, a ring leader behind the move, managed to equate the high point of the Neuheisel era, a victory in the 2009 Eagle Bank Bowl, with the Pac-10 conquering Bruins of the '80s.

"At this point it is what it is. I mean every year I've been here and we've done it we've been criticized for it," Embree said. "At the same time the tradition started years ago with Neuheisel and them and they were winning Rose Bowls when they were doing it. We did it the year we won the Eagle Bank Bowl, too. "

But in a series of players meetings and discussions over the past year, Prince, Hilliard and other Bruins players have clashed with their teammates over traditions like "over the wall" and the program's cultural mindset, making it clear that they didn't come to UCLA to go to Eagle Bank Bowls.

"A lot of the guys unfortunately are OK with it," Prince said

"It's a tradition, it's an unfortunate tradition," Hilliard said. "I feel like it's one of those traditions that in program I feel like we've got to get rid of.

"I've had talks with numerous guys that are captains on our team council that we've got to get together this off-season and make sure that that doesn't happen anymore because you look at other high powered programs they don't have any traditions that include ditching practice."

After saying, "We did miss a day of work but at the same time we did have a good time as a team," Embree and other senior Bruins were defensive about Mora's criticism of Tuesday's incident and the mindset behind it.

"Then that's his mentality and I'm sure the team will respect that next year," Embree said. "I'm sure next year he'll probably emphasize that."

Probably?

At least with the likes of Prince and Hilliard, there is already no doubt where the new sheriff stands. It is a stand they will respect, a stance they already embrace.

"I would advise you," Hilliard cautioned, "not to turn around if Coach Mora's standing out here and you jump over that wall."

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